“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the
ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

The August Meeting 2013 of the International
Federation of Medical Students’ Associations
(IFMSA) and the work of the JAMSA Council
2013-2014 echoes this famous quote of Barak
Obama. The young people, the future leaders
of the world who are members of these
organizations have recognized the importance
of change, the importance of making the move
towards development and improvement and
this report will give a view of reformation
from the International- IFMSA experience in
August as well as a synopsis of the JAMSA
vision for 2013-2014.

e-Health
As the world is now, modern technology is
being incorporated into all aspects of life.
Hence, the theme chosen by IFMSA Chile “ehealth: technology-based medicine. Bringing
future into present.” The Organizing
Committee (OC) of IFMSA-Chile recognized
the importance of technology to modern day
medicine in enabling procedures that just a
few years ago would have been considered
impossible- ensuring that patients have more
effective, health- enhancing care. It was noted
that mobile technology presents one of the
greatest opportunities for health professionals
to promote health in developing countries, but
this would also be somewhat challenging.

For this general assembly, three delegates from
the Jamaica Medical Students’ Association
were originally expected to be in attendance.
Unfortunately however, the JAMSA delegation
was only two members strong with Sachalee
Campbell-JAMSA President and Auvarhenne
Howell- JAMSA VP for Internal Affairs in
attendance. We therefore had to expend more
energy to ensure that JAMSA’s views were
well represented and that we accomplished our
goals for this meeting.

Opening Ceremony
The first highlight of the meeting was the
opening ceremony in which the Minister of
Health-Chile addressed delegates on the life of
a medical doctor and what we should view as
priorities. Our Guest Speaker, PAHO Director
and UWI, Mona alumna, Dr. Carissa Etienne,
spoke on the importance of primary health care
and highlighted the expected challenges of the
medical profession and gave encouraging
advice on how to overcome these challenges.
.

AM Chile 2013

The opening ceremony was also used to introduce the concept of ‘IFMSA Reform’ to the delegates.
IFMSA President, Dr. Rhoopa Dhatt, spoke on the change that IFMSA hopes to achieve. As a result
of the prior work of IFMSA-Chile, the IFMSA signed a collaboration agreement with the Pan
American Health Organization on that night. This agreement is geared towards strengthening
relationships between both organizations and working towards the mutual benefits that this
collaboration would afford.
Even as IFMSA focused on its reform, the usual structure of IFMSA meetings was not lost. As such,
days 2-6 of the General Assembly saw the usual Standing Committee sessions and Presidents’
Session which focused on topics specific to the different committees, but also incorporated the area
of focus- reform. Regional Meetings were also held as is customary and these meetings enabled
each Region of IFMSA, including the Pan American Medical Students’ Association (PAMSA), of
which JAMSA is a member, to be able to gather the views of the region on reform and the
importance of ensuring a stronger local and regional presence of IFMSA. As is customary for
IFMSA’s General Assemblies, IFMSA Chile also organized theme events on e-Health, including,
general e-Health sessions as well as e-dermatology, among others. These events had speakers with
experience in this area such as Dr. Ramiro Molina sharing vital information with delegates and
encouraging our participation in activities geared towards enhancing E-health. A group presentation
on e-Health was done by representatives of MedeTel which is an event organized by the
International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), which is the international group of
national associations who represent Telemedicine and eHealth stakeholders of their different
countries.

Dr. Carissa Etienne and Dr. Rhoopa Dhatt

AM Chile 2013

Contract Fair
At each IFMSA August Meeting, an opportunity is presented for national member
organizations (NMO) to sign agreements to allow for bilateral and/or unilateral exchange
opportunities for students of the signatory countries. This year saw JAMSA signing seven
bilateral contracts with AMSA- USA,CFMS- Canada, Canada-Quebec, ANEMFFrance, IFMSA Brazil and HelMISC Greece. This will allow our students to visit these
countries on electives within the coming year and for students to be similarly sent to
Jamaica from these countries. Seven unilateral exchange agreements were also signed to
allow students from those countries to visit Jamaica on electives. Surveys which were
administered to the student population before the general assembly to determine their
locations of interest were used to inform these agreements. Contract fair also provides an
opportunity for each NMO to be on showcase in order to expose other students to the
general culture and the medical educational system.

AM Chile 2013

Another highlight for the August Meeting was the Closing Ceremony which was also on Jamaica’s
Independence Day. During the Plenary session that evening, JAMSA presented a statement on
Jamaica’s Independence and encouraged the other delegates to join in our celebrations. We then
shared a Jamaica 50 video, which saw the plenary room erupting, clapping and dancing. The most
remarkable thing about that moment was that though there were internet issues, causing the video to
stop every few seconds, everyone was quite enthused about this JAMSA-Jamaica initiative that the
video was restarted a few times. Thus, JAMSA’s delegates although a bit saddened that the video
presentation did not run perfectly, were quite enlightened to see how much our island is loved by
persons internationally.
This August meeting presented another of the many networking opportunities that IFMSA brings as
young people came together to interact – developing friendships with present and future leaders in
various fields.
Just as our parent body IFMSA is working towards change, JAMSA is also focusing on
improvement for 2013-2014. One of the major areas of focus is institutional memory which has not
been at its best. We have been encouraging the process of documentation and also improvements in
the visibility of JAMSA as we have numerous activities, but at times, even the medical students
whom we serve are not as abreast of our activities as we would wish them to be.
Another famous quote of Barak Obama says, “Yes We Can!” and this is one of the themes of
JAMSA for this year. There are many dreams for this year. Not all can be accomplished within a
year, but we have begun work that will strengthen JAMSA for many generations to come.